As an Independent artist the hardest thing to reach is ‘The tipping point.’ By which I mean, the point where there is enough momentum in your music career that you can give up the day job without risking the security of your family.

‘The Tipping Point’ catch 22 is this:” If I don’t dedicate enough time to my music career i’ll never get near the tipping point and yet if I dedicate all of my time to my music career i’ll be broke in about 2 months and therefore be further from the tipping point!” That is the fear. So what is the solution..

I don’t have the answers yet but i’ve researched a lot and the advice i’ve been given suggests the obvious. The three PPP’s. Patience, Perseverance and Planning. So to help me with the third P i’ve found a couple of solutions..Firstly, I used this little diagram to help me out, ..

So for me, some time off work is the way forward. I’ve booked a couple of days off but it’s not going to be enough.. Can i get my job to reduce my hours and therefore give me more time to work on music? We shall see… Otherwise a part time job could be the way forward..

SecondIy, I’ve been putting in place ‘systems’ which are enabling me to clear my head of all the lists and concentrate my efforts on one thing at a time. This seems to have really helped, for example, in my very limited time before work on wednesdays I review my music opportunities with sites like www.musicclout.com and www.taxi.com and submit to any that suit me. On thurs i spend that precious 30mins reviewing emails that have been sent to me. On Fridays ill rotate between booking gigs or addressing my Mailing list (which means for the first tim ein months i’ve actually communicated with them!)

My third bit of ‘Planning’ is to use the calendar!. So many times in the past i’ve had a rough date in the future for the intended release of the album. And, invariably, that date comes and goes.. So this time I haven’t actually picked that date yet but i’m placing into my calendar all the things that need to happen in order to release on time. By entering these ‘signposts’ into an actual calendar and sticking to them i’m hoping that this time round the ‘Album’ gets released.

That’s all for now, I’ll report back next month with some real progress… i hope!